The present invention is related to making electrical measurements and, in particular, to making AC measurements on closely spaced devices.
AC measurements on devices such as semiconductor devices are important for reasons that include insuring that devices meet specifications and perform as expected and for the monitoring of the overall performance of the fabrication and/or assembly process.
Closely spaced devices are often tested separately from their neighbors to avoid crosstalk (e.g., inductive coupling, capacitive coupling, and RF coupling) that limits the available accuracy of the AC measurements. A device under test (DUT) may have an AC signal applied and the response thereto measured. If this DUT is in close proximity of another DUT that also has an AC signal applied, the resulting measurement may be degraded by crosstalk from other AC signal. The degree of proximity at which the crosstalk occurs can be a function of many parameters (e.g., frequency, power and physical structure, to name a few).
Testing DUTs separately results in the loss of the efficiency that can be achieved with parallel (i.e., contemporaneous testing). DUTs can be tested much faster in parallel. Separate testing results in higher costs, as well as increased test time.